The Oracle of God
An oracle is a prophetic pronouncement. Malachi is a record of the oracle of God to the people of Judah. It was given about 400 years before the coming of Jesus at a time of rebuilding the nation. It was at a time when things were not going well for the people of Judah and they had been complaining to God about their difficult circumstances.
Malachi’s record of God’s oracles was from the heart of God, brutally honest, and full of hope.
The 1st Oracle: God Loves You
The 2nd Oracle: You Don’t Honor God
The 3rd Oracle: You are Faithless
The 4th Oracle: The Lord is Coming
The fourth oracle is a word of hope with an urgent call to action. It begins with a rather harsh observation about the people of Judah. Read with me the word of Malachi in chapter 2, verse 17.
You have Wearied the Lord with Words
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:17
If you have ever taken a long journey by car with children in the back seat you understand what it means to be wearied by words. Are we there yet? I have to go to the bathroom. I’m hungry. He hit me. She’s making noises. How much longer? I’m thirsty. Oops. My finger’s stuck. He took my marshmallow. I lost my crayon.
"Mom, he's looking at me like that again!", "Mom, now he's trying to fart!", "Mom, he keeps mouthing "help me" to people in other cars!", "Mom, he keeps on putting his finger in his nose and then touching me with it."
The people of Judah were on a long trip with God and they just kept talking at God… not praying to God mind you – talking at Him. Why do all the evil people have nice houses and lots to eat? Why do you let the other nations press in on us? Are we there yet? He’s got my stuff! It’s not fair!
They, like children were never happy! Everyone else gets all the good stuff and we sit in this crummy, wretched land that is dry, dusty, and old.
My personal favorite: “Where is the God of Justice?” Notice that this one has a real edge to it and Malachi calls them on it as well as their constant complaining. He tells them why they need to make an attitude adjustment and a behavioral change but before he does he tells them why they need to pay attention.
The Lord is coming! Malachi gives us three important and prophetic pieces about the first appearance of the messiah in our world.
The Lord is Coming… Suddenly
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1
Malachi prophesied that when the Lord comes it will be sudden! Before his appearing there will be a messenger who prepares the way. That’s John, the Baptist, who came to announce the coming of the messiah.
Yet, as we look at the events of his coming, even with the announcement of his coming his appearance was “sudden” and unexpected – especially in the temple!
Every time Jesus came to Jerusalem it always seemed to catch the people off guard and unprepared.
When Jesus was a 12 year old boy and visited with his parents he taught the teachers in the temple and they marveled at his words.
When Jesus came to the temple at the beginning of his 3 years of ministry he surprised the profiteers by overturning their money tables and chasing them out of the courtyards.
Just before His arrest, trial and crucifixion, His teaching rebuked and stunned the Pharisees. They were shocked His words that hit with the force of a club.
His presence came suddenly and not at all in the way that the people had pictured.
He came with a purpose, to be a messenger of the covenant of God.
The word that is used here is in the OT 214 times. About half the time it is translated as messenger and the other half of the time it is translated as angel. Angels are messengers – remember that. We’ll touch on it again in a few minutes.
Jesus was coming to be a messenger bringing a covenant of hope. Through him we will become the blessed people of God again!
This word of encouragement is given with just a hint of sarcasm on the part of Malachi as he speaks of the one “in whom you delight.”
With the word of hope comes also a word of understanding. Malachi wants the people to understand the two purposes of the Lord’s coming.
The Lord is Coming… To Refine and Purify
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?
Malachi is saying that when the messiah comes this will be a dramatic moment in the life of the nation.
This isn’t a minor event that gets two paragraphs on the bottom of the sixth page in the newspaper in Judah. This goes on page one – above the fold with a dramatic picture – and nothing is the same ever again because of his purpose – refining and purifying the people of God.
Jesus doesn’t come to just take hold of his people but also to prepare them for God.
The Lord is Coming… To Refine and Purify
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.
Malachi speaks of the refiner’s fire that burns off the dross and leaves pure gold. It takes a fire of over 2400 degrees to melt gold and when you do that burns off all the dirt and separates out the impurities.
Malachi also speaks of being cleansed with fuller’s soap. A fuller was a person who cleaned wool cloth of oil, dirt, and other impurities making it thicker. It made the wool pure and clean.
The Lord is Coming… To Refine and Purify
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
Malachi 3:2-4
The messiah’s purpose is to purify his people and to return them to the days of old and as in the former years. Malachi was remembering the days of Godly men like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David who all loved God with all their hearts.
The Lord is Coming… To Bring Justice
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 2:5
Some specific sins are mentioned…
The spiritual sins of substitute gods through demon worship of wizards and witches are called sorcery.
Then there are the sins of the flesh involving the covetousness of adultery, lying. cheating, and those who would put down and use others. It even speaks of those who abuse the immigrant or foreigner.
The law of God has spoken on each of these issues in the times past and now Malachi says God will take care of all those who commit evil.
My dad has had 3 fraudulent checks hit his bank account in the last six months because someone has identified him as an easy mark. We went to the bank filed the proper reports and got the money back but when I asked a former state police trooper what could be done, He told me that nothing can be done.
Malachi is saying, don’t worry, something can and will be done… in God’s time.
God is all about justice! It is this matter of being refined and looking to God for justice that leads to the next powerful part of this oracle.
Return to Me
7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
You need to return to me. You speak of justice and cry out why are we neglected? Where is the God of Justice? Why do the evil prevail?
Essentially, God’s response is I will take care of all these things including the matter of justice so you had better return to me!
And then Malachi asks the question. “But, how shall we return?” He sets up the people for the shock of their lives.
How shall we return? Stop robbing me!
Return by Honoring God
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
Malachi 3:8-9
Malachi says, “Now, who in their right mind would steal from God?” What kind of idiot would do something like that… yet that is exactly what you are doing! You cry out for justice??? And you are robbing me???
Then he asks the rhetorical questions again, “But how have we robbed God?
Malachi’s answer is not fuzzy or hard to understand. You are robbing me in your tithes and offerings.” The context of Malachi is often missed here. Usually when this verse is referred to it is about money.
A tithe is 1/10 of your increase and it belongs to God. You can’t give the tithe you can only return it. But according to Malachi the tithe is not about money. It is about justice. It is about honor.
Malachi is telling the people of Judah that the reason they aren’t blessed is because they have stolen from God.
Jacob was a Transformed Cheater
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Genesis 28:16-17
Jacob was a man who had been a cheater in fact that is what his name means! But Jacob changed and God changed his name to Israel, Prince of God, to commemorate the change in his life.
I wish we had time to fully tell Jacob’s story here. He cheated his brother out of his birth right and then fled to Haran. There he, the cheater, got cheated out of his beloved Rebecca and he ends up working for 14 years for Laban without
pay. It’s a long story but it was one of refining and purifying for Jacob – that’s how God works in us.
On his way home he stopped and slept in a place called Bethel. He used a stone for a pillow and then during the night had a vision of a ladder from earth to heaven with angels of God ascending and descending on it.
The angels were messengers of God. They blessed Jacob and told him that he would become a great nation of blessed people. So Jacob took the stone, put it on top of a pillar, poured oil on it and worshiped God.
Then he made a promise…
Jacob Made a Promise
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
Genesis 28:20-22
Essentially Jacob is saying to God. Whatever you give me I will acknowledge to you that it all comes from you. Whatever I have is yours.
When you fail to tithe you are saying, It’s all me! It’s my skill, my knowledge, my stuff, and there is no blessing.
Malachi is saying to Judah, “You are keeping everything I’ve given to you for yourself. And how’s that working out?”
Tithing is first of all a matter of honoring God in your life. It is a matter of worship. But there is more…
Return by Putting God First
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…
Malachi 3:10a
But a second fact is that is also how God has planned to accomplish his work.
The tithes and offering supported the work of God. Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt. That makes eleven. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manessah. They were each counted as part of Israel. That makes 13 tribes of Israel except Levi was separated out from the others to be responsible for the tabernacle and the spiritual duties.
The tribe of Levi was set apart by God for ministry. All of the priests were of the tribe of Levi. They had no inheritance or lands that were given to them when they crossed over into the Promised Land. They were to be supported by the tithes and offerings of the twelve tribes that were left.
In God’s economy His plan is for His work to be supported by His people’s tithes and offerings.
In the days of Moses their tithes supported the Levites and their offering built the tabernacle. In Exodus 38 they gave so much that Moses had to tell them to stop.
Malachi says to Judah, it’s time to return to putting my work first in your life, but wait, there’s more… (Do I sound like an infomercial?)
Return by trusting me.
Return by Trusting God
…and thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Malachi 3:10b
The blessing of the tithe ultimately comes down to trusting that God will take care of you.
Here Malachi makes it as clear as it can possibly be said. The windows of heaven open for you and God will pour down a blessing until there is no more need. The locusts and pests who devour the crops will die off and all your neighbors will say that God is really taking care of you!
Testing God
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
1 Kings 17:13
Testing God
14 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’ ”
1 Kings 17:14
Testing God
15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:15-16
In the 1 Kings 17 a prophet named Elijah came to a widow’s house and asked for some food. It so happened that she had just a handful of flour and the jug of oil had just enough in the bottom to make one small cake. She was going to make it for her and her son… then being that this was all they had they fully expected to die.
The blessings come ONLY after the gift!
One of my favorite stories is of a single mother who was struggling to take care of her teenage son. She faithfully attended church and one particularly tough
week she gave her regular offering to God that Sunday and then later in the week noticed that her funds were down to nothing.
On Friday night her son came home from school to his mom crying. When he asked what was wrong she said that there were out of TP and they were so broke they couldn’t even buy one roll. It was too much and she just broke down.
They had a bowl of tomato soup for supper watched a little TV and went to bed. Before they went to sleep they prayed for God’s help.
The next morning the boy got up, looked out the front window and started laughing. The mom got up looked out and she started laughing too.
The son’s friends had TP’d their house during the night and there was toilet paper draped over the bushes and hanging from the trees. They both went out and gathered enough TP to last three months!
When you test God… he opens the windows of the heavens and pours out toilet paper!
Ok… let’s go back and ask the question. So what? What does the oracle of God through Malachi teach me today?
Don’t weary the Lord with Words
The Lord has come… for you
It’s easy to spend your life saying it isn’t fair. God didn’t give you a square deal. Before you can hear what God has to say to you, you have to stop talking. Just quit whining for a while and start listening. Here is what you’ll hear.
You are the reason he gave up the glory, the power, and the prerogatives of God and became a flesh and blood human being. You are the reason he came with the message of life and hope. You are the one he loves.
Remember that! It’s personal.
The Lord comes to refine and purify you
What was true in the time of Malachi and the temple is true today in your walk as a believer and follower of Jesus.
Jesus coming is a day of hope that is also one of dramatic power in your life. When Jesus comes everything changes.
Paul speaks of your body being the temple of God.
When Jesus enters your life it changes the way you deal with all of living. When the Holy Spirit enters the temple the money tables get turned over. Things start changing.
When you start following Jesus he messes with you. He tears up the false spirits, the cheating, the drugs, the lying, the pandering, the oppression of others and the abuse of foreigners.
Yes it’s hard to live for God. It is that process that is working in you to transform you daily.
When you mess up, you aren’t failing if you get up and keep going. You are being refined and purified. You aren’t failing, you’re being transformed… just like Jacob.
The Lord comes to bring Justice
Those who are evil will pay the price.
Don’t worry about them. They will get theirs in the end. Besides you don’t know what’s in them and what is going on in their hearts. God will judge – not you.
God will deal with them.
You worry about you and return to God (That’s another word for repentance)
Return to God
Honor God
Bring God the tithe. Give him an offering that comes from your heart and is filled with your admiration, adoration, and love. It’s all his… your tithe acknowledges this simple fact of dependence on him.
Stop trying to do it on your own. I don’t need God… yes you do!
Put God’s Work First
Bring your tithe to the storehouse of the temple… the church.
This is God’s plan for funding his work. This is why we don’t do pancake breakfasts to raise money to support the ministry of the church.
God doesn’t want us to run a business. He doesn’t want us to sell stuff to the people in the community to get money from them so we can pay the bills and support our ministers. He wants you to put his work first and to support the ministry with the tithe. When we go to the people in the community with the word of life in Jesus that message isn’t to be tainted by us asking for money for pancakes!
Do we really believe in the mission of the church? Are we really convinced that what we are doing has eternal consequences?
Put God and his work first and bring him your tithes and offerings. If you can’t do it yet… settle the question, work on it and get there.
Trust God
You don’t trust God by saying bless me and then I’ll tithe.
Some people say if you give me a million dollars I’ll give the tithe. The fact is that it isn’t true and you know it. It won’t happen.
If you won’t give 100 dollars when you have a thousand you won’t give a hundred thousand dollars when you have a million – because you don’t trust him. You’re doing life on your own!
The blessing comes after the gift and it’s not to make you rich. It’s to make you a blessing to others.
The ultimate goal of life is joy. The joy is in the giving not the getting. God has already given you what you have. Trust him and give to his work. You’ll find out that he will give you more so you can give more and increase your joy.
Stuff doesn't make you happy. God does. Trust him.
Actions Steps
* Accept Jesus as Lord – Today
* Look for and rejoice in refining work of God
* Stop worrying about evil people
* Return the tithe
